Machine for grinding card-clothing



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

G. O. WIOKERS.

MAOHINE FOR GRINDING CARD CLOTHING.

No. 433,919. Patented Aug. 5, 1890-.

(No Model.)

' 2 SheetsSheet 2. G. 0. WIGKERS. MACHINE FOR GRINDING CARD CLOTHING. No. 438,919.

Patented Aug. 5, 1890.

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UNITED. STATES PATENT rricn.

,GEORGEO. \VIOKERS, O F LAWVRENOE, ASSIGNOR TO THE DAVIS & FURBER' MACHINE COMPANY, OF NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR GRINDING CARD-CLOTHING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters latent No. 433,919, dated August 5, .1890.

Application filed December 17,1889. Serial No. 334,089. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE O. WIoKERs, of Lawrence, county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Machines for Grinding Card-Clothing, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to provide apparatus by which card-clothing in large pieces or sheets may be ground or sharpened uniformly. In the manufacture of card-clothing the ends of the wire teeth are left somewhat uneven, as well as rough, by the machine. Before the clothing can be used it is necessary that the teeth be made even as to length; also to be smoothed and sharpened. This process is called in mill nomenclature grinding. Card-clothing is for the most part in two forms-namely, fillet and sheets, socalled. The fillet consists of narrow strips usually from seven-eight-hs to two and one-half inches in width and of an indefinite length, according to the size of the cylinder which is to be covered with the fillet. The sheets are rectangular pieces usually from four to five inches in width and as long as the cylinder of the card-machine upon which it is to be used, generally thirty-seven inches, forty-one inches, forty-nine inches, sixty-one inches, &c., as the case may be. The wire teeth are set in pieces of cloth or leather or some other suitable foundation, and in such a way as to leave a margin of foundation around that part which is set with teeth. This margin is usually about one inch in width. The grinding process for card-clothing until recently has been done in the cotton or woolen mills where it is to be used, the process being to put the clothing onto the cylinder where it is to be used and place that cylinder in a suitable frame and run an emery cylinder across the surface. Then the cylinder is put back into the card-machine with the card-clothing all ground and put to work. Recently it has been found desirable. to have the clothing ground by the maker of the card-clothing and shipped all prepared for use. This may be done so far as the fillet 'is concerned by winding it onto the drum spirally and fastenthe left;

ing the two ends in a suitable manner; but

it is not practicable to grind sheets by the same process used in mills namely, by tacking and stretching them onto the surface of 55 cylindersas this plan would be very long and expensive and would leave the leather full of tack-holes.

I am aware prior to my invention that machines have been used for grinding sheets of 60 card-clothing in which the plan is adapted of sewing the margin of a set of sheets together, a set consisting of enough in number to cover any one cylinder, usuallyfrom eighteen totwenty-four in number; but this process requires a great deal of time. It also leaves marks in the margin of the sheets. Besides all the sheets must necessarily be subjected to the same degree of stretch, which is undesirable.

I am also aware that metal clamps have been used to fasten a set of sheets together as a substitute for sewing; but this process is one that requires a good deal of time to fasten the clamps to the sheets, and also makes it necessary to subject all the sheets to the same degree of stretch.

My invention has for its object to provide apparatus by which each separate sheet may be subjected to that particular amount of stretch which it requires, which may be more or less than is required by any other sheet in the set, my improved apparatus enabling the sheets to be ground expeditiously and without ,marring the sheet. I

The particular features in which myinvention consists will be pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section on line m 00, Fig. 1,looking toward Fig.3,a longitudinal section on line y y, Fig. 1, looking toward the right; Fig. 4, a detail, on an enlarged scale, of part of one of the clamping-jaws; Fig. 5, a transverse section on line 00 00 Fig. 4; Fig. 6,an under side view of one of the lags or top plates removed, and Fig. 7 a modification to be referred to.

The frame-work of myimproved apparatus consists, as herein shown, of three spiders mounted upon a shaft a, each of the said spiders consisting of a circumferential ring a, joined to a hub a by arms a The ring a of each spider is provided with a number of preferably radial slots a, forming projecting lugs or teeth (0 upon the said ring. Each lug or tooth a supports a lag or top plate a, (shown separately in Fig. 6,) provided on its under side with end lugs or ears a and center lugs or ears a on opposite sides of the center spider, the said lugs or ears being secured to the lugs or teeth a of the spiders, as by bolts a". Each slot at in the ring a of the spiders has located in it clamping devices, (herein shown as jaws,) one of which, as b, is fixed, while the other, as b, is movable toward and from the fixed jaw. Each jaw has secured to it, as herein shown, a plate b curved or bent downward at its upper end, and provided, preferably, with teeth or serrations to enter the card-clothing to be held and stretched. The movable jaw (herein shown as hinged to lugs If on the fixed jaw) is normally held away from the fixed jaw by a suitable spring I), shown as a fiat I spring secured to the fixed jaw. The clamping jaws are carried by metallic yokes or straps 17 having, as shown, a lug, to which the fixed jaw is secured, as by bolt 19 The yokes or straps b are acted upon by cams or eccentric hubs or collars (see Fig. 5,) secured to a shaft 1) in any usual or wellknown manner, as by a key. The shaft b has its opposite ends firmly secured to supports shown as plates 0, pivoted, as at c, on the lugs or teeth a of the endmost spiders, the said plates (shown as slotted) having cooperating with them an adjusting device consisting, as shown, of a threaded rod 0 passed through a threaded bolt 0 extended from the inner side of the spider through the slot in the plate and provided with a set-nut c.

The lags or top plates a are provided on their under side, as herein shown, with longitudinal ribs 0 (see Fig. 6,) one of which has one or more slots to receive the threaded shank d of a yoke 01', said yoke forming bearings for a cam shaft or rod 61 extended the length of the movable jaw and formed, as herein shown, by flattening or cutting away a portion of the periphery of the said shaft, as at d (see dot-ted lines Fig. 5,) such flattened side or face normally lying against the movable jaw.

In operation the sheet of card-clothing to be ground or sharpened is placed upon a lag or top plate, and the shafts Z7 on adjacent sides of the said lag or top plate are turned by a key or handle (not shown) or in other suitable manner, and the clampingjaws are moved inwardly toward the shaft a by means of the eccentrics b until the teeth of the said jaws are embedded in the cardclothing, thus securely holding the same on the lag or top plate. The card-clothing may then be stretched by turning the cam rod or shaft (1 to act upon and move the jaw Z) toward the fixed jaw, thus stretching the cardclothing. The clamping-jaws may be adjusted radially to permit the same to bebrought in engagement with clothing of different thicknesses by turning the threaded rod c thus turning the plate 0 on its pivot. The series of lags or plates forming the chief ormain part of a frame to support the cardclothing are shown as arranged in a circle, as I prefer, and the clamps placed between the lags or plates are so constructed and located as to occupy a position inside the plane occupied by the ends of the teeth of the card-clothing to be ground.

I have shown the jaw-carrying yokes or frames as rigid pieces of metal, yet I do not desire to limit my invention tothe exact construction shown in Fig. 5 for the yokes, as the yoke may be made of other-equivalent shapes, or, as shown in Fig. 7, wherein the movable jaw 12, by the spring-like tendency of the yoke, is normally kept pressed against the cam rod or shaft d I do not desire to limit my invention to the exact form of actuating device for moving the yoke or frame carrying the clamping devices at right angles to the faces of the lags or plates, as, instead of the cams or eccentrics, I may employ any well-known mechanical equivalent.

I claim I 1. In a machine for sharpening the teeth of card-clothing, the following instrumentalities, viz: a frame having a series of lags or plates to support the card-clothing to be sharpened, and a series of clamps between each pair of lags and below their outer surface, and means to move the same to clamp and hold the card-clothing in place on the said lags or plates between each adjacent pair of clamps, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for sharpening the teeth of card-clothing, the following instrumentalities, viz: a frame having a series of lags or plates to support the card-clothin g to be sharpened, and a series of clamps, and means to move one of the members or jaws of the clamp in a direction to stretch the card-clothing in the direction of its width, substantially as described.

3. A radially-slotted frame having a series of lags or plates arranged in a circle to support pieces of card-clothing, and yokes or carriages provided with clamps having teeth and arranged between the said lags or plates in said slots, combined with cams or eccentrics to actuate the said yokes or carriages radially with relation to the said frame to engage or disengage the teeth with the clothing, substantially as described.

4. A frame having aseries of lags or plates to support pieces of card-clothing, and clam ping devices to clamp the card-clothing, combin ed with devices to move said clamping devices to effect their engagement with the said card-clothing and to move one member or jaw of the clamp toward the other to stretch the said card-clothing, substantially as described.

5. Aframe having a series of lags or plates arranged in a circle and yokes or carriages provided each with a fixed and a movable jaw to form clamps and arranged between the said lags or plates, combined with shafts extended through said yokes and having cams or eccentrics thereon to actuate the said yokes or carriages radially with relation to the said frame and with means to support and adjust the said shafts in the frame, to operate sub stantially as described.

6. A radially-slotted frame having a series of lags or plates arranged in a circle to support pieces of card-clothing and yokes or car- 5 riages provided with clamps having teeth and arranged between the said lags in said slots, combined with cams or eccentrics to actuate the said yokes or carriages radially With relation to the said frame, and with shaft 19 the arms 0, shaft 0 and screws 0 by which 20 GEORGE O. VVIOKERS.

Witnesses:

OSCAR M. GODFREY, ANDREW REEVES. 

